When a 9-year-old R.A. Dalkey decided he was going to become an Outback truck driver, the poor Australia-besotted boy had no idea what he was getting into.
He’d been born on the wrong continent for a start. And even if he could make it out of Africa one day, where was an Australian work visa to come from? Or, for that matter, a licence to drive 53-metre trucks on red desert roads?
A sensible adult would have filed that dream away as a juvenile fantasy and gotten on with life. Especially after taking five attempts to get the most basic of car licences.
But R.A. Dalkey never claimed to be a sensible adult, did he?
Join the author as he pursues the ultimate whimsical travel quest. From that careless moment of childhood inspiration, this true account will take you to small town South Africa, the ugly side of Cape Town, the claustrophobic sprawl of Greater London and New Zealand’s sleepy Waikato. And then on to the Holy Grail: Australia.
Once there, Dalkey digs deep into this puzzling, generous nation as he travels to every one of the mainland states. He explores Australia’s quirky history and its modern cities, from seductive Sydney to bad-ass Brisbane. He rides trains across the Nullarbor Plain and watches cricket everywhere. But all this is merely the backdrop to his dogged pursuit of that decades-old mission: driving heavy loads to tiny rural specks deep in the Outback…
If being a grown-up were as simple as holding down a job, buying a reliable car, finding the home of your dreams and living happily ever after, there’d be no need for this true story. But our mid-thirties author’s unorthodox approach and complete failure to accept the world as defined by adults was never going to make it quite so straightforward - especially when Brexit threw a spanner in the works.
'If you liked the works of Bill Bryson, Pete McCarthy or Tony Hawks, you will enjoy this.' - Amazon Review by Ian S
Set against the backdrop of his ever-swelling grumpiness and the growing realization that he might never actually become a millionaire, this book follows him and his trusty hatchback as they travel from England to Vienna, seizing the chance to live in Europe before it got closed to Brits forever. It's a journey that takes him to Cyprus and Venice, Slovenia and Surrey, Belgium and Bonn.
'A hybrid of Victor Meldrew and Tony Hancock, with attitude!' - Direct Reader Comment
There has never been a better time for us to start taking saving seriously.
Our hyper-meritocratic world has long glorified the notion of constantly earning more in order to fuel victory in some futile race to lifestyle and possessions. And so the careful saver was always the subject of ridicule.
Then along came COVID-19. Jobs disappeared overnight, and those who kept theirs could forget about pay rises any time soon. Suddenly, those who had a nest egg and knew how to stretch every cent looked clever.
At the same time, the global shutdown brought out hitherto wasteful ways into sharp focus. As with smart saving, nobody was cracking jokes about sustainable, responsible living.
Which is why now is the moment for champion saver (professional Scrooge, if you will) R.A. Dalkey to share an essential truth: a calculated approach to spending isn't just good for your bank balance, it's good for the planet too. It's the right thing to do.
And, as he already showed in his extreme budget travel books, sensible spending is neither dull nor boring! In fact, it makes marvellous things possible…
When R.A. Dalkey travels cheap, he thinks bigger than hostel dorms, overnight trains and pasta with tomato sauce for every meal. He'll roll out his sleeping bag in Madrid's red light district, nap on the streets of Monaco and furtively string up his hammock on Swiss farms. He'll spontaneously teach English in Laos in exchange for rice. He'll thumb rides anywhere from West Timor to South Africa. He'll try smiling a lot, and see where it takes him. Most of the time it's somewhere good.
As this collection of stories will reveal, it doesn't always go smoothly. Indonesian bush-fires chase him from his campsite. His shoes freeze solid in Siberia. He gets head-butted by an Albanian villager. He's shaken by earthquakes and terrified by witching-hour excavations in Andorran valleys. And, incompetent as ever with ropes, his hammock has a habit of falling down in the middle of the night - with him in it.
Yet he wouldn't have it any other way: travelling Dalkey-style delivers the richest of experiences. And as he shares the adventures few of us would brave, you'll pick up gems about this crazy planet. Do you know which head of state was an Olympic bobsleigh competitor? Or how long your unattended bag will go untouched in Japan? Who's eating all the ice cream in Pyongyang? And how do cats jump in Swedish?
Like that uncle with the rose-tinted specs and a grumpy anarchist student rolled into one, Dalkey turns up his nose at travel insurance and shows there's more than one way to see a world that always steers us to play it safe...
